South Korea Internet and Security Agency to Double Blockchain Project Budget in 2019

A South Korean government agency is to double its budget for 2019 to support blockchain pilot projects for the public sector.

More blockchain pilot projects for the public sector will receive support from the South Korean government in 2019

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The Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA), a sub-organization of the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT, has announced plans to expand public blockchain pilot projects to revitalize the domestic blockchain market, ZDNet Korea reports September 4.

The South Korean government plans to spend about $9 million to spread blockchain projects throughout public and private sectors. This year, the government has spent around $3.8 million on the blockchain projects.

The goal is to find efficient cases in the public sector and to identify the best options, bringing them to the commercial sector through multi-year governmental support.

This year, the Ministry of Science and ICT received 72 project applications from 41 institutions, and selected six final projects for their development in the public sector. For 2019, the Ministry is set to double the number of selected projects to 12, with three to four “private-led” blockchain projects as well, ZDNet Korea writes.

Local news media outlet Digital Daily Korea quoted Min Kyung-sik, the head of KISA's blockchain team, who revealed the agency’s plans to develop the projects next year while displaying the current results in November at a blockchain hackathon event. He also added:

"The purpose of the public sector is to play an active role in revitalizing the industry by acting as a primer [...] We plan to make more money for public works projects.”

Earlier in August, the Korean government had excluded cryptocurrency exchanges from legislation governing venture businesses, according to the country’s Ministry of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Startups (MSS).

The domestic blockchain community has since set up a law-based agency, called the “Blockchain Law Society,” to develop a legal framework for applications of distributed ledger technology (DLT), exploring the possibilities for its technological application in various areas of society, Cointelegraph reported August 20.